Kitchen Witch Tips & Lore

Tips

* Before preparing a meal, light a candle or sprinkle some fresh water around the kitchen. Cleaning your workspace, both physically and spiritually, is a good habit. I use a plant mister to which I've added some rosemary, juniper and black pepper oil. Good to spray on top of the cooker when pre warmed as well. I have another mister with vanilla, orange and cinnamon oils in that I spray when I want to freshen the room, ideal just before preparing a special meal for your loved one to put them in the mood ;)

* Make food into shapes symbolic of their magical intention crescent moon shapes for biscuits for lunar magic, decorate the top of a pie or cake with a symbol or rune that signifies its purpose, whatever you think is appropriate.

* A pot of basil grown in your kitchen keeps the area safe from negative spirits.

* Always try to grow your herbs yourself and concentrate on their magical purpose while tending to them. This will increase their energy - and add lovely aroma's to your kitchen!

* Always use fresh and locally produced ingrediants when possible. Goods that are out of seasons are grown in greenhouses or shipped long distances and have lost much of their magical properties and taste!

* A good addition to the witch's kitchen is a lunar calendar or chart showing the phases of the moon and its movement through the zodiac. You could also add a small kitchen altar (like mine in the photo above), it doesn't have to be elaborate, a candle some herbs a statue or photo, whatever conveys 'hearth and home' to you. Put symbols of your craft around your kitchen, if you're trying to keep your 'Witching' a secret then the items you choose can be low key, star shaped fridge magnets or photo frames, decorate it in colours that vibrate energy to you, use terracotta and gingham if you want a country feel or use metallic and bright rainbow colours whatever suits you and makes you feel that your kitchen is the centre of your home!

* When cooking food for a specific magical purpose, cook with purpose and care. Keep your magical goal in mind.

* Unlucky influence should be kept away from the kitchen when cooking or preparing magical recipes, which is accomplished by stirring deosil (in a clockwise direction). Clockwise is thought to be in harmony with the movement of the sun and sky and is linked to life, health and success.

* Herbal preparations should never be boiled in aluminium containers, use either copper, earthenware or pyrex to avoid contaminations to you medicinal recipes by the aluminium.

* Just because you're working with the old ways doesn't mean you can't use modern equipment, coffee grinders and blenders are just as good for grinding down ingrediants for cooking as a pestle and mortar, breadmakers can save time for you to spend tending your garden or children. We have a juice extractor, steamer, coffee maker, slow cooker, food processor and various other gadgets all get used with love for creating 'magical' food that I'm proud to serve up to family and guests.

* Be mindful of waste, compost and recycle all you can, grow your own where you can, make your own and look after Mother Earth's kitchen as well as your own and always invite the Goddess and God into your kitchen.

Lore

The reading of omens is an art and practice dating back to antiquity. Omens reveal many things and are all around us, if we permit ourselves to be aware of them. They can be quite beneficial, especially in warning us of dangerous situations ahead of time. The trick is knowing how to correctly interpret the omen. The kitchen is one place in which there are many omens, lores or old wives tales. For instance, a rainstorm is portended by the repeated boiling over of a coffeepot and also by the accidental spilling of water on a tablecloth. Other omens include the following:-

* Money will soon come your way if any of the following things should occur: bubbles appear in a cup of coffee, you accidentally knock over a sugar bowl, rice forms a ring around the edge of a pot, or tea leaves float to the top of the cup.

* Trouble is indicted by the accidental omission of spices from a recipe or by the spilling of salt. Be prepared for an argument with someone if you should happen to spill pepper on the kitchen table or floor. (According to tradition, these bad omens can be remedied by simply adding the spices, and by tossing a pinch of salt or pepper over your left shoulder, respectively.) It is also said that if two persons stir the same boiling pot they will soon find themselves involved in a quarrel.

* If your apron comes untied by itself and falls off while you are working in the kitchen, this is generally seen as a sign that someone is thinking about you. Some say that it means your sweetheart is having romantic thoughts about you at that moment.

* It is believed by many to be an omen of good news when baked apples burst while in the oven, or when the salt and sugar are accidentally mixed up.

* If a fork accidentally falls onto the floor, a woman will soon knock on your door; a spoon indicates the arrival of a gentleman. (In some parts of the world, the fork means a man, and the spoon a woman.) Unexpected or unwelcome visitors are also presaged by the dropping of a knife that sticks in the ground and by cracks that form on the shells of eggs boiling in a pot of water.

* If you are engaged or wish to get married, according to an old belief once common in England, you should take care to never sit on a kitchen table, for this will break the engagement and also prevent you from ever being wed.

* There are also numerous kitchen omens concerning bread. It is considered unlucky in certain countries to wash a bread-knife on a Sunday, cut both ends of a loaf of bread, leave a knife stuck in the loaf, or take the last slice of bread. Accidentally dropping a slice of bread with the buttered side down is also said to be a bad omen; however, it is a good sign if the dropped bread lands with the buttered side up. If you and another person reach for the same slice of bread at the same time, an unexpected visitor will soon appear.

Have you got any other kitchen witch tales or folklore snippets centred around the kitchen? If so please them in and we'll put them here!